Hat-trick hero Drauniniu praises team-mates

Hat-trick hero Josh Drauniniu insisted it was job done and immediately turned his focus to the final pool game after Warriors crushed Italians Femi-CZ VEA Rovigo 80-17 in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

"With the final try I just said to Nikki (Walker) to stay wide and I was going to hit the line. But I looked up and saw a forward so I thought I would use some feet and try and work the mismatch. Thankfully it worked and I managed to get the last try for the treble..."

Drauniniu grabbed a stunning treble - including a late solo special - as Worcester kept the pressure on Perpignan in the race for last eight qualification.

"In the first half we played well for 30 minutes but then dropped off for the final ten and left it open for Rovigo," said Drauniniu.

"When we came in at half time we had a good talk with Nigel Redman in the changing room and we decided we needed to play in the right areas and we saw what happens when you do that.

"We wanted to score some tries and in the second half we scored 54 points so we have got to be happy with that. It was a good performance by the boys and job done.

"Rovigo are a great team and although we beat them at home by a big margin we knew they would be no pushovers.

"It was a dry pitch here and we had to come here and do a job. Now we can go home and look at next week. I'm proud of the boys."

Drauniniu improved his scoring statistics at Warriors to 12 tries in just 18 games, but he was keen to downplay his own man-of-the-match performance and instead praise his team-mates.

He said: "It's always nice to get some tries. But credit to the boys, they fronted up and the forwards second half were terrific and gave some decent offloads to let us backs score the tries.

"With the final try I just said to Nikki (Walker) to stay wide and I was going to hit the line. But I looked up and saw a forward so I thought I would use some feet and try and work the mismatch. Thankfully it worked and I managed to get the last try for the treble.

"We have Gernika next week and this kind of performance builds up the boys and gives us confidence," he added.

"The young guys coming in did well. Max (Stelling) scoring two tries and Ben (Howard) looking good. It's good to see the development grow and we will enjoy this before we focus on the final game."